Does Trump Know What DACA Is?

Trump Tweets About DACA On Easter, But Does He Know What It Is?

About an hour after wishing the nation “Happy Easter,” President Trump declared on Twitter that he won't make a bipartisan deal on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. His tweets raised a serious question, aside from what the future holds for Dreamers: does Trump know what DACA is?

"Border Patrol Agents are not allowed to properly do their job at the Border because of ridiculous liberal (Democrat) laws like Catch & Release. Getting more dangerous," Trump tweeted Sunday morning. He asserted in subsequent tweets that Mexico is doing nothing to stop people from "flowing" in the U.S. "These big flows of people are all trying to take advantage of DACA. They want in on the act!" he wrote.

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Trump's logic — that he won't reach a deal on DACA because undocumented immigrants are taking advantage of the program — is incredibly flawed. For starters, people just now coming to the U.S. wouldn't be eligible for DACA.

Border Patrol Agents are not allowed to properly do their job at the Border because of ridiculous liberal (Democrat) laws like Catch & Release. Getting more dangerous. “Caravans” coming. Republicans must go to Nuclear Option to pass tough laws NOW. NO MORE DACA DEAL!

DACA was created by the Obama administration to protect undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as minors from deportation. The current requirements for DACA protections dictate that eligible Dreamers must have resided in the U.S. since 2007. Anyone arriving to the U.S. now simply doesn't qualify.

Trump ended DACA last year, claiming he wanted Congress to come up with replacement legislation. He's been reluctant to make a deal with congressional Democrats, though, and the last potential deal failed in the Senate in February. The White House's alternative plan, which also failed, sought to increase the federal government's deportation powers, limit family-based legal migration, and end the Diversity Visa program.

Trump's Easter day comments claiming “caravans” of undocumented immigrants are crossing America's southern border imply that he doesn't fully understand who DACA protects — people who have been in the U.S. for over a decade. The president of the United States failing to comprehend a vital piece of legislation that he nixed is more than worrisome, considering hundreds of thousands of people's livelihoods depend on the program.